Marie-André Leclerc was a Canadian nurse and the main accomplice of French serial killer, con man, and thief Charles Sobhraj.
Wiki/Biography
Marie-André Leclerc was born on Friday, October 26, 1945 (age 38 at the time of her death) in the village of Saint-Charles-de-Bellechasse, Canada. Her star sign is Scorpio. She studied in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and later became a medical secretary at a clinic in Lévis, Quebec, Canada.
appearance
Eye color: green-blue
Hair color: Brown
Family, Race, and Relationships
She is of French descent. Nothing is known about her parents and siblings. While she was working as a medical secretary at Levis, she had an on-off relationship with a married doctor. Seeking a change of scenery, she traveled to Kashmir, India, where she met Alain Gauthier, who claimed to be a photojournalist for Paris Match magazine. Alain Gauthier was actually Charles Sobhraj, a serial killer and con man, with whom she fell in love during her trip. Charles became Marie’s guide in India, and at the end of the trip, Charles made Marie promise to return to Asia to see him.
Marie-André Leclerc and Charles Sobhraj
After returning to Levis, she received a love letter and phone call from Charles, in which he told her that he loved her and wanted to marry her, and urged Mary to come to Bangkok to find him. She left her boyfriend and her job and went to Thailand in June 1975 on a ticket sent by Charles.
Thailand murder case
Marie was so enchanted by Charles that she became his follower and puppet and began to accompany him in his scams. Posing as a gem salesman or drug dealer, Charles stole money and passports from Thai tourists. Another of Charles’ scams was to cultivate followers by helping people out of trouble. One of them, Dominique Renelleau, who later joined Charles’ family, recalled that he became ill from taking a potion that Marie gave him; Dominique was given Charles’s protection and lived with Charles and his family for several months.
Dominic Renello
In the fall of 1975, Charles committed his first known murders, most of which were committed by his accomplices who threatened Charles to expose his crimes. His first victim was a Seattle woman, Theresa Knowlton, who was found drowned (wearing a floral bikini) on the shore of the Gulf of Thailand near the city of Pattaya on October 15, 1975. Theresa’s cause of death was believed to be accidental drowning while swimming until an autopsy report confirmed that she was murdered.
Theresa Knowlton
After Theresa Knowlton, some of his victims were,
- The charred body of a Turkish man named Vitali Hakim was found on the way to the Pattaya resort where Charles and his family were staying.
Vitaly Hakim
- A Dutch couple named Henk Bintanja and Cornelia Heimke were lured to Thailand, poisoned and taken to Charles Shobraji’s family for treatment. Vitaly Hakim’s girlfriend Charmaine Kalu came to investigate her boyfriend’s disappearance and threatened to expose Charles. Fearing exposure, Charles murdered Henk Bintanja and Cornelia Heimke. On December 16, 1975, they were found strangled and burned.
Cornelia Hemke and Henk Bintanja
- Soon after, Vitali Hakim’s girlfriend, Frenchwoman Charmayne Carrou, was found drowned in the same circumstances as Teresa Knowlton.
On December 18, 1975, Mary and Sobhraj entered Nepal using the passports of the deceased (Henk Bintanja and Cornelia Hemker).
Murders in Nepal and India
Sobhraj murdered Canadian Laurent Carrière and American Connie Bronzich, also named by some sources as Laddie DuParr and Annabella Tremont, in Kathmandu on December 21-22, 1975. The bodies of Laurent and Connie were found in a field near the Nepalese capital.
Laurent Carrière
Connie Bronzich
Marie and Charles then returned to Thailand on the passports of Laurent Carrière and Connie Bronzich. In Thailand, Charles was suspected of murder by several of his companions, and Marie and Charles fled to Bombay, where they murdered Israeli scholar Awoni Jacob to obtain his passport. After obtaining Jacob’s passport, Marie and Charles traveled first to Singapore and then to India, returning to Thailand in March 1976. Marie next traveled to Malaysia with Charles and his right-hand man, Ajay Choudhury. In Malaysia, Ajay was sent to collect gemstones; Ajay was seen giving the gemstones to Charles, which was the last time Ajay was seen, and his body was not found.
Ajay Chaudhry
After returning to India, Mary and Charles, along with Barbara Smith and Mary Ellen Esser, committed crimes in Bombay. Later, Charles and his gang of three women attacked a Frenchman named Jean-Luc Salomon, who was poisoned and left for dead during a robbery.
Barbara Smith and Mary Ellen Esser
In July 1976, while Mary, Charles and their two accomplices were carrying out a robbery, three French graduate students (who were part of their group) reported them, following which the Delhi police arrested them.
Imprisonment and trial
After being caught by the police, Mary, Charles, and two other women were interrogated. During the interrogation, Barbara and Ellen confessed to the crime and were sent to Tihar Jail in Delhi. Mary was accused of involvement in the murders of Jean-Luc Salomon and Awoni Jacob, both of which took place in India. On July 28, 1978, she was found not guilty but was told to continue serving her sentence as Jacob’s murder trial was still pending. She supported Charles Sobhraj during the Jean-Luc Salomon murder trial and protested after he was convicted of murder. Mary and Charles were convicted of murdering Awoni Jacob, and Mary was convicted of drugging a student and sentenced to twelve years in prison. She appealed the verdict and was immediately released, but denied leaving the country. She was later allowed to return to Canada.
die
In July 1983, while on parole, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and was allowed to go to Canada on the condition that she report to the Indian High Commission in Ottawa every three months and return to India to face trial if her health permits. On April 20, 1984, she died of cancer at the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Lévis, at the age of 38.
Facts/Trivia
- Mary often used the name “Monique”.
- During her first few years of incarceration, she was reportedly allowed to meet and have sex with Charles once a week, suggesting that he had considerable power over prison guards.
- In the fall of 1983, she published a book called My Memories, in which she claimed to be a victim of Sobhraj’s conspiracy and denied being the murderer. She even claimed that she had never loved Charles.
- Although she claimed to be a victim of Charles Sobhraj, whether she was a victim or an accomplice is controversial. Huguette Laprise, a journalist for the La Stampa who travelled to Asia three times to report on the incident, initially sympathised with Mary, concluding:
You can’t live in an apartment and have someone locked in your apartment and you can’t see them. All I can say after all these years is that this girl’s fate is extremely tragic and abominable.”
- In 2004, archived footage of her interviews was broadcast in the television documentary Interpol Investigates Human Trafficking.
- In 2021, a British TV series called Snakes was released on Netflix and BBC One. The series is based on the life of Charles Sobhraj. Mary also plays a leading role in the film, and her character is played by British actress Jenna Coleman in the series.
Jenna Coleman as Marie-André Leclerc in Snakes (2021)
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education